Brady cuts thumb, sits out preseason game against Bears

After seeing the Hall of Fame game canceled due to field conditions, the Packers played their first preseason contest at home against the Cleveland Browns.

The New England Patriots face the Chicago Bears tonight in an NFL exhibition football game on the second week of the 2016 preseason schedule.

Don Yee, Brady’s agent, told nfl.com that “an accident occurred and Tom will be OK in time”.

While they played well offensively, the real highlights for the Lions came on special teams.

Garoppolo drilled a 16-yard touchdown pass into the chest of tight end A.J. He played the entire first half and one series in the second half, finishing 16 of 21 for 181 yards. Regular starters traditionally skip the fourth game, and as a precaution, this injury might keep him out of the third. Chicago gained 59 yards in its first drive Thursday and passed last week’s total on its second possession. The ground game looked good for the Patriots as running back Tyler Gaffney had one touchdown with 64 rushing yards and the Patriots averaged five yards per carry.

The Chicago Bears didn’t get off to a great start this preseason as they were blanked by a 22-0 final against the defending Super Bowl champions last week and now they head on the road to Gillette Stadium to battle the Patriots who looked excellent last week against the Saints.

Jimmy Garoppolo should once again get the lion’s share of the starting reps in Thursday’s game, but Tom Brady can play in the preseason and may look to get some reps in before he serves his suspension, perhaps in Week 3.

Derby, who caught three passes for 47 yards and made some key blocks and two special teams tackles in his debut, caught six passes for 71 yards on Thursday as he continued to impress. He had a fumble recovery last week. As it turns out though, it’s way more serious for the Patriots: Brady has a thumb injury. Deonte Thompson stood out a bit; the receiver had two received passes for 33 yards.

Patriots: WR Julian Edelman was held out as he continues to take it easy after having a minor procedure this spring on his surgically repaired left foot.